TAMPA, Fla. -- Authorities in Tamp, Fla. arrested a man who allegedly used water torture to punish his 10-year-old daughter.

Moslim Al-Assadi was charged with aggravated child abuse after his children told police allegations against their father are true, The Tampa Tribune reported Wednesday.

The three siblings, ages 8, 9 and 10, cried and told of beatings during interviews with police, the newspaper said.

Police say the younger children told them their father tied their 10-year-old sister's hands behind her back last year and plunged her head under water as she struggled for breath.

Authorities have responded to six calls of alleged mistreatment of children since the family moved to Tampa in 2006. Until now, each time the father was protected by the children he was accused of abusing, the newspaper said.

"Children who have experienced abuse have a heightened need for the comfort and security" that parents can provide," Lauren Fasig, of the University of Florida's Law Center on Children and Families, told the Tribune. "This need may outweigh the perceived threat."